


Glass Hearts

by kateavalanche



Category: Alice (2009)
Genre: BUCKETS OF ANGST, Brainwashing, Child Abduction, Don't Ask, F/M, Fluff, Getting Together, Just read, More angst, Romance, government coups, it's crazy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-31
Updated: 2015-06-22
Packaged: 2017-12-25 04:27:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/948619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kateavalanche/pseuds/kateavalanche
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hatter can't bear to stand by and watch his little Alice grow up to become one of them - one of the Hearts.  But that's exactly what he must do if he wants a chance to save her, and possibly all of Wonderland.<br/>Jack has been groomed to be a perfect puppet since birth, but there's something about his family's ward, Alice. Something about her makes everything more vibrant, more exciting, more imperfect, and he can't get enough of it.<br/>Alice has lived like a bird in a gilded cage, surrounded by the Hearts' lackeys. She knows there's something different about her, but she has no idea how important that difference is, and what the Hearts are willing to do to use that difference for their own gain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

            He was twenty two the first time they met.

            Technically, he was older than that, but time is a curious thing in Wonderland.  Never behaves quite how you'd expect it to, and only occasionally behaves how you'd want it to.  But he looked twenty two and acted twenty two, so he might as well have been.

            She was six.  Actually six, mind you.  This was because she wasn't from Wonderland.  She had only been a guest there for two and a half years, and that is hardly enough time to be considered a native.

            It was this otherness that made her anything more than just another kid to him - Hatter was more big picture, less small detail - and kept pulling him back to the Hearts Casino.

            The day Hatter first met Alice was the day he would look back on and wonder, fifteen years later, whether or not he should have turned and run in the other direction.

 

* * *

 

            It was Friday, Hatter's usual day to visit the Heart family's base of operations, report on what he'd accomplished that week and receive  assignments for the week to come.  As he walked into the Casino and along the corridors, he was diving out of the way of people scuttling along as they carried all sorts of things - cakes, garlands of flowers, massive parcels wrapped in white paper and tied up in shiny red ribbons.

            Normally Friday mornings were quiet in the Casino.  Every cluster of harried looking people pushing another full cart or hefting another box only served to make him more and more curious as to the cause of all the chaos.

            When he reached the council room, he had resolved to question Ace on the matter, but as he pushed open the doors, there was no one there.

            "H'lo?" he called, thinking that maybe someone was in one of the side rooms branching off from the council room, "It's me - Hatter… S'anyone here?"

            Glancing down at the long table, he saw a note in looping black script:

            He rolled his eyes and unfolded the note, reading it.

 

 

 

>                         Hatter,
> 
>                                     I trust you have completed your week's work satisfactorily.  I am far too busy                     
> 
>                         today to meet with you personally, as is our customary arrangement.  Do take a                              
> 
>                         moment this week to jot down how everything went and have it sent to me.
> 
>                                     Attached is a list of the jobs I'll need done this week.  We will resume our                           
> 
>                        usual schedule and I expect to see you Friday next.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> ♠

            He turned the note over and realized there as a second sheet of paper.  Hatter skimmed the to-do list Ace had left for him.  Pretty standard stuff.  Some black market deals, a bit of smuggling, a few odd jobs the Hearts didn't want to be traced back to them.  In return, there was always a bit of money in his account, plenty for Hatter to do what he liked, when he liked.  Not a bad setup if you didn't mind keeping strange hours and occasionally getting your hands dirty.

            With the note and list tucked into the inside pocket of his waistcoat, he walked out of the council room and down the hall, dodging still more rushing people.

            A few turns and a flight of stairs later and Hatter saw something that made him pause.  Just there, in a smallish alcove, was the first person he'd seen that day not running as if a Bandersnatch were after them.  In fact, she wasn't moving at all.

            It was a little girl in a blue, ruffley party dress.

            Cake.  Decorations.  Presents.  The little girl in a party dress was the final puzzle piece.

 

* * *

 

            "H'lo pet.  Are you by any chance the cause of all this fuss?" the man asked, waving a hand at all the decorations.

            Alice pushed her wispy hair out of her face as she stared at him with wide, blue eyes.  She had never seen anyone like him before.  He was so colorful, so bouncy, so…messy.  She could tell just by his crooked smile and the way his hair poked out from under his hat.

            Nobody in the Casino was messy.  She didn't think the queen would allow it.  Off with their heads, she'd say - but only when she thought Alice couldn't hear.

            Alice heard a lot more than people thought.

            "…you can talk, can't you?" he said.

            "Oh!  Yeah - I mean yes sir," she blinked those eyes - too wide to look at home in her little face - and she curtsied neatly.

            Hatter burst out laughing, "Never been called 'sir' before!  And certainly never been curtsied at neither.  I'm Hatter, girlie," he tipped his hat and flipped it up in the air, pausing until it landed squarely back on his head, "and you would be?"

            "Alice."

            "Alice?  That's not a Wonderland name," he frowned thoughtfully, "That's a Looking-Glass name.  Alice, where are you from?"

            "What's a looking glass?  What's wrong with my name?" she was worried she had done something wrong, and she wanted Hatter to like her.  He was the first person who talked with her instead of just telling her what to do.

            The frown vanished and he took her hands, giving them a small squeeze before saying, "Nothing, Alice is a fantastic name.  None better!  Fits you like a glove."

 

* * *

 

            The smile that split across her face did strange things to Hatter.  He'd never seen someone look that genuinely happy before.  He found himself wanting to make her smile like that all the time, and wondering what it would sound like when she laughed.

            It had been years since he'd heard a laugh - a real one, not one that was fake and forced or that had spite behind it.

            Then and there, he decided to befriend this odd little girl, this Alice, and see if they couldn't bring a bit of life back into this corner of Wonderland where everyone was half mad and half scared senseless.

            "Where is that blasted brat?" a voice cut through Hatter's thoughts.

            Two clubs walked past, obviously searching for someone.  Almost certain - though not sure why - that it was Alice they were after, he smoothly sidestepped in from of her, hiding the girl behind his long jacket.

            "You!  Have you seen a little girl?  Brown hair, blue dress?" they barked at him.

            He smiled and said easily, "Sorry mate, can't say as I have."

            He felt a small hand clutch at the back of his coat and silently willed her to be still.  The clubs scowled at him for a moment longer before shrugging and moving on to continue their search.  Hatter waited until the trip-trap of their shoes on the polished floors had faded before he turned around.

            "Than you," she said in a small voice, barely above a whisper.

            "So it was you they were looking for.  Miss Alice," he knelt down to be on her eye level, "I believe there's more to you than meets the eye."

            He held out his hand to her. When she slipped her hand into his, Hatter jolted at the sudden wave of strangeness coming from her.  She might have looked like any other girl her age, but Hatter knew otherwise.

            "Do you like chocolate?" he asked, "and cream cake?"

            When she nodded eagerly, Hatter stood up and gave her one of his manic grins.

            "Next time I see you, we'll have heaps of both."

            And maybe I can figure out just what it is about you, he thought to himself, why you make me want to run away and take care of you all at the same time.

 

* * *

 

            Even after the long trip home, there was something about his conversation with that girl nagging at his mind.  Something about her bothered him - something more than just the strangeness of her name.  There was a strangeness to her whole being that he couldn't explain away or ignore.

            By the end of the day, the curiosity had wormed its way too deep to be put off anymore.  He knew he was going to have to find answers, and soon, or he'd go mad.

            Finally, exhaustion won and his eyes fell shut.  But first thing in the morning, he'd decided, he would be making another trip - this time to an entirely different place, one that the Hearts would kill to find.

 

* * *

 

            "I'm here to return a book.  It's a work of Edwin and Morcar."

            A thin, rattling voice came from the other side of the door, "How doth the little crocodile improve his shining tail?"

            Impatient, Hatter spat out, "He pours water of the Nile on every golden scale."

            With a metallic shriek and a wheeze, the door swung open.

            "Can never be too careful, David, my boy," the old man said, his face crinkled into a warm smile.

            "How many times do I have to say it, Hedgehog?" he sighed as he followed the man through the door, latching it tightly behind him, "It's Hatter now."

            "I've been calling you David since you were toddling around pissing yourself, boy, and I'll keep calling you David for as long as I want."

            Hatter tugged at his cowlick in frustration.  His mother's old friends were all convinced they had raised him and could talk to him however they liked.

            "Now I know you didn't come here just to roll your eyes at an old fart.  What do you need?"

            Right.  He'd spent all night dreaming the encounter with the girl over and over, he may as well get the answers he came for and let the whole stupid thing go.

            "I need to know about the Looking-Glass world."

            "Strange thing to develop a sudden interest in," Hedgehog led Hatter along the hallway and down between haphazard stacks and piles of books, "but I'm sure we've got a few books about it here somewhere.  Anything about it in particular?"

            "I need to find out about a girl named Alice."

            The old man stopped short the moment that name left Hatter's lips.

            "What the blazes do you think you're playing at, messing around with Alices?" his filmy eyes were fixed on Hatter, as if staring hard enough would give him the power to read his mind.

            "Nothing!" he said, hoping the lie wasn't plain on his face, "I heard someone at the Casino talking about it and you know me - nosy as hell."

            The look Hedgehog gave him was long, stern, and very suspicious.  Hatter gave him his best foolish grin and shrugged, and finally, the old man gestured for him to follow as they set off again.

            They would wander - seemingly without direction - until Hedgehog would screech to a half and run a knobbly finger along a dusty spine of some book or another.  He would ease it out of the pile, leaf through the pages, and either add it to the growing heap in Hatter's harms or slip it back where he had found it.  His motions were always weighty and deliberate.  It was clear he viewed the books with a certain reverence.

            Once the stack in Hatter's arms was almost too tall to see over, Hedgehog chuckled.

            "That's it, that's everything.  Sure you don't need some help there, boy?"

            "Sure, you can have the whole pile!" he laughed at the look on the old man's face, "No, I'm fine Hedge.  Thanks for all of these."

            "Anything for Miriam's boy," he said, his smile turning sad for a flash, "Now off with you, and mind you bring those books back without - "

            " - without so much as a scratch," he finished for him, "I know."

 

* * *

 

            Later that night, Hatter stationed himself in the center of his floor and read through every one of those books, hunting for any scrap of information on past Alices.  Not only was he curious because of his own interaction with an Alice, but Hedgehog's reaction to the name had him ravenous for answers.

            Most of the entries related to Alices were vague, self-contradictory, or had a distinct feeling of revisionist history to them.  Instead of discouraging him, this only made him surer that he was on to something big.  Something no one in power wanted to get out.

            Clearly Alices had power here.  There were mentions of other Looking-Glass people stumbling in to Wonderland and none of them ever kicked up a fuss.  No, there was something about these girls

            So what were the Hearts plotting?  Why were they keeping a child who, given the record of girls like her, posed a massive threat to their power?

            Hatter wasn't sure he would like the answer if and when he found out.

 

* * *

 

            As much of an effect as Alice had had on Hatter, he had made an even greater impression on her.  All through her birthday, he as all she could think about.  Through cake and presents, her mind kept going back to his promise of chocolate and cream cake the next time he saw her.

            The next time.

            How Alice wished he had told her when that would be.

            She wanted to tell someone about the whole thing, see if anyone could give her more about him - a story, anything - but she never managed to get a word in edgewise.

            For a day all about her, it sure felt like it was for everybody else.

            "Good morning, Alice!" one of the doors of her room was open and a woman in a Diamond uniform stood there, obviously waiting for her to say something back.

            "Good morning," she answered.

            It would be no good asking her about Hatter.  Even if she did know something, Alice had learned a long time ago that the Diamonds never answered questions the way you wanted them to.  They would say something else that sort of sounded like an answer, but didn't tell you anything real.  Or worse, they went to the queen to tell her what Alice had asked, and Alice had a strong feeling that talking to Hatter was something she wasn't supposed to have done.

            As the woman went to the closet to pull out clothes for the day, Alice swung her feet over the side of the bed and wondered, was that why she liked Hatter so much?  Because she knew she wasn't meant to have talked with him?

            " - really, I don't know where your head is today, but it sure isn't here.  I feel like I'm just talking to myself."

            Alice tuned her out again as she put on the dress that was laid out for her and went back to what she had been thinking about all last night - why did Hatter seem so different from everyone else she'd met, and why did that matter so much to her?

 

* * *

 

            It was weeks since Hatter had made his promise to her, and Alice still hadn't heard a word from him.  She had waited very patiently and hadn't mentioned it to anyone, so she didn't think anyone was making sure that he _couldn't_ come and see her.  He just _wasn't_.  And that bothered her.

            Maybe he had been lying to her?

            But he didn't seem like a liar when they talked.  At least not to her.  He lied to the Clubs, but they were nasty people, and she lied to them too.

            She had decided by now that he either forgot and would come when he remembered or that he was a captive of a horrible beast and would come as soon as he had escaped its evil clutches.

            Alice hoped for the second one.  It was much more exciting.

* * *

 

Hatter's real reason for not having kept his promise to Alice wasn't anything so exciting as what she was dreaming up.  If he had to be honest with himself - which he preferred to avoid whenever possible - it was simple cowardice.

            Every Friday he showed up like clockwork for his meeting with Ace.  And every Friday he would walk up the steps intending for that to be the day he plucked up the courage to put on a brave face for Alice, to go for chocolate and cream cake and try to give the girl at least one friend in this cold, empty place.

            But he couldn't do that without also wanting to tell her what he had learned from all of Hedgehog's books.  And he couldn't do that without explaining to the poor kid that the people who had taken her in and were raising her were monsters.

            So every time he left his meetings with the intention of finding Alice, he would catch a glimpse of her or hear a snatch of her voice and his resolve would crumble.

            He couldn't be the one to tell her the truth.  Hell, he almost wished he didn't know it either.  It made him feel sick inside, what he'd learned about the people he worked for, about the people ruling Wonderland.

            When he had figured it out, at first he'd been convinced he was misunderstanding the words in front of him.  Or that the people who had written the book had misinterpreted something.  But little details in other books seemed to back up the first.  Pieces that hadn't fit before began to make sense.

            The Hearts wanted to quash the magic out of Alice - that or use her for her powers?  They were raising her as their own so they could turn her - not into a catalyst of change, like the Alices who had come before, but as leverage against their own people, a kind of insurance.  If the people ever got a bit itchy, started making noise, the Hearts would have an Alice on their side, raised as one of their own.

            It had taken some doing, but he eventually got his hands on a piece of paper that had been part of a log of trips through the Looking Glass.  There was one entry, almost three years old - right about when Alice would have been taken - that read:

            Found the girl.  Family unobliging.  March persuaded. 

            That was it.  Those three thoughts were all Hatter had to work with, but he was certain he knew what it meant.  The White Rabbit - the Queen's errand boys - had found Alice and when her family had refused to give her up, Mad March killed them.

            Of the members of the White Rabbit, Mad March was the only one Hatter had met.  They had been friends once, longer ago than he cared to remember.

            He was the reason Hatter knew so well what happened when the Queen got her claws into you.  She'd tear out everything good and real until there was nothing left of who you used to be.

            The last time Hatter saw March, the man had been sent to persuade someone else.  By the time he had finished, none of his suit remained its original white.

            Even the rose in his lapel had been painted a dark red to match.

            Hatter had run off to a back alley where no one would see him empty his stomach onto the ground.

            If it was Alice's family that the entry meant, there was no doubt in his mind they were dead, and had been before Alice ever stepped through the Glass and into Wonderland.

 

* * *

 

            Weeks had passed like this, with Hatter losing his nerve the moment he caught a glimpse of Alice.  He should have known things couldn't go on like that forever.

            He was at the Palace on a Tuesday, of all days.  Someone had bungled an operation and he'd been sent for especially.  Should have been him on the job in the first place, but he wouldn't say anything.  Figured they'd learned their lesson and would know better in the future.

            The folder with the mission info was tucked neatly under his arm and he was nearly out the front doors when he heard her.

            "Hatter?"

            He spun on his heel, trying to hide the way his shoulders wanted to cringe with embarrassment. 

            "S'that you, pet?  It's been a while, I half thought you'd forgotten about little ol' me."

            He pasted on a broad smile and hoped she wouldn't see the lie in it.

            "You took aaaages  to come see me, and you weren't even eaten?" she looked offended, and Hatter burst out laughing at the indignant tap-tap of her dainty foot.

            The laughter shook through him, lifting the anxiety that had settled in his gut, untwisting the knots it had tied his muscles into.  Before, he'd had no idea how much it had been affecting him, and he was grateful to this little girl for the ripples of his laughter still pouring from him.

            Her face was less indignant now, more confused at the mad man in front of her still chuckling helplessly.

            "Terribly sorry to disappoint," he managed to get out between shaky gasps.  He scooped her up in his arms and took a deep breath, "but I recall a promise of chocolate and cream cake.  Would that help you to forgive me?"

            "It might help a little," she said, rolling her eyes at him with a dramatic, put-upon sigh.

            "Then chocolate and cream cake you shall have."

            He set her down and started off down the hall with long, slow strides, smiling to himself as she hurried to fall into step with him.

 

* * *

 

            Alice had a long memory when it came to promises, and she was glad Hatter had come back to keep his.  She had been close to giving up on him, and that would have meant giving up on the only real friend she had made in the palace. 

            So when he turned up all smiles and that big, messy personality of his, she couldn't help but forgive him.  And as he made his way down the hall, she had to take three quick steps for every one of his.

            "Hatter, where are we going?"

            "To the kitchen, obviously!  I may have a few tricks up my sleeves, but I haven't any food, so we'll have to go and find some, right?"


	2. Two

     She was eight when she decided that, while Hatter was her best friend, he didn't have to be her only friend. And if she thought about it, he was a terrible best friend. It had been months since she'd seen him last. She never knew when he would come see her, and there was no way she could go see him.

     Even if she could, where would she look? She didn't know the first thing about Hatter. Alice scowled before remembering that other people could see her, and would wonder why she was making that face.

     The court was in the middle of a croquet game, and she and Prince Jack were standing off to the side – supposedly learning the game for the day when they would be expected to play too. Instead, they spent most of the time whispering back and forth,  making fun of the people playing.

     To be fair, that was what they usually ended up doing when they spent any time together. That was why Jack was her other friend.

     He hadn't always been. When they had first been introduced, Alice was convinced that Jack was the most boring boy in the whole world, and that nobody would ever be more boring until the end of time. Every question she'd asked him, he'd said, “I suppose,” or “I suppose not,” or “I really couldn't say,” and any conversation lasting more than five minutes had her wanting to beat her head against the nearest wall to relieve the boredom.

     She liked to think she'd been a good influence on him, opening up his shell and finding out that an actual person was inside, instead of a well-dressed puppet with nobody working the strings. And after that, it had been weeks of hard effort to teach him how to be rude, how to ruin the knees of his pants with grass stains and rips, how to steal from the kitchens, and most importantly, how to laugh.

     The Duchess, a red-faced, loud mouthed woman with a voice like pots banging together, was carefully lining up her flamingo bat for the perfect shot. This involved an awful lot of scrunching up her face and wiggling her hips, and when Alice peeked over towards Jack, she could see his eyes welling up with tears and his shoulders shaking with silent laughter. She bit her lip as hard as she could to stop from snickering too. She leaned over and bumped her shoulder against his to get his attention.

     “Quit it!” she mouthed at him.

     “You quit it,” he whispered, one hand darting up to wipe away the tears before they fell and gave him away.

     “You'll get us caught, stupid,” she said as quietly as she could.

     Not quietly enough, it turned out. One of the Clubs had noticed the two of them shaking and whispering and was striding over with a pinched expression. He clamped his hands around their arms and hauled them away without a word.

     Alice and Jack had to step double-time to keep up with the Club's long quick, long steps, and the further they got away from the croquet field, the less even the ground became. Halfway back to the castle, they were stumbling and hopping to keep from falling behind.

     The Club marched them into the castle, up stairs, down halls, through corridors, and finally into the Prince's playroom. He fixed them with a scowl and said through clenched teeth, “Perhaps when you are older and can behave yourselves better, you may join the court for croquet. Now, it would seem, you are still far too childish,” and with that he spun on his heel and marched out, slamming the door behind him.

     There was a pause as they looked at each other, and then Alice rolled her eyes, “We are children!”

     They dissolved into the giggles they'd been working so hard to keep in, sinking to the floor and wheezing, their hands clutching their sides.

     “Speak for yourself,” Jack finally managed, “I'm eleven. That makes me three years older than you, Alice.”

     She pushed herself up to a sitting position, put her hands on her hips, and did her best impression of the Club, huffing and puffing, “And clearly eleven is far too childish for you to be anything but a child, Prince Jack!”

     “Ugh, I'm glad we're not still with the court,” Jack said, flopping down flat on the floor, “Five more minutes and I would have lost it in front of everyone.”

     “We'll be in trouble later with your mother.”

     “I'm pretending she doesn't exist right now. You mentioning her makes that harder, you know.”

     “Do you do that a lot?”

     Jack turned his head and cracked open one eye, “Do what?”

     “Pretend your mother doesn't exist.”

     “Wouldn't you?” he sat up and straightened his collar, “If you had a mother like mine?”

     Alice nodded without a moment's pause. Just living in the same castle as the Queen of Hearts was bad enough. At least she still had a little freedom to wander where she pleased. She couldn't imagine having the Queen as a mother, having guards following her and reporting everything she did back to Her Majesty.     

     “You could run away.”

     Jack laughed, “To where? And do what?”

     “Just...away. That's the whole point. You could do whatever you felt like doing.”

     “Sometimes, I...” he started, but the thought petered out. He sucked in a deep breath and started again, “Sometimes I think about the Resistance. About joining it. I wonder what it would be like – if they are really awful like Mother says. She lies about so many things that I don't know what's made up anymore.”

     Alice's eyes went round. Nobody inside the castle ever said anything about the Resistance that wasn't in line with what the Queen said. That was just asking to get your head cut off. When Jack saw her face, he stammered out, “Not that I'd ever do it! It's just something I think about sometimes, like how people think about weird things they never mean! Alice, you can't tell anyone,” his face was deadly serious and his hands were on her shoulders, “You can't. Mother would find out and I don't know what she'd do. So you can't say anything. Ok?”

     “Jack,” she put on her best serious face, which for an eight-year-old was surprisingly serious, “I am quite possibly the only person in this castle who thinks your mother is just as awful as you do. And I would never tell her something like this - or anything that I didn’t really have to. I promise.”

     Jack looked around the room, searching for something.

     “What is it?”

     “Haven’t you got anything sharp in here? Or pointy? That would be good too,” he said, standing and inspecting the bookshelf.

     “No, I haven’t. Why do you need it?”

     Jack stopped and looked at her like it was the most obvious thing in the world, “For a blood oath. We cut our palms and shake hands that you’ll never tell.”

     “That’s disgusting!” Alice said with a grimace, “Boys, honestly.”

     “Well, what else do you suggest?” Jack stood with his hands balled into fists and resting on his hips.

     He always did that when he wanted to puff up and seem older and smarter around her. Alice thought it just made him look silly. But she thought about it, definitely not wanting to cut up her hand.

     “Hm. I could tell you a dangerous secret too. Then we’d have to keep the other’s secret to make sure our secret stayed secret too,” she said, proud of the solution she’d come up with, “and my secret is that I have another friend. I don’t see him as often as you, because he doesn’t live here, and sometimes he brings me presents from wherever he goes.”

     Jack sniffed at that, “I already knew that.”

     “Did not! How? Does anybody else know?” she was worried now. Had she been too obvious? She had no way of knowing for certain, but she had a pretty good feeling that if anyone important found out, she wouldn’t be able to see Hatter again.

     “There are some days you’re happier, but there’s nothing going on that day. And then you get more and more sour after that. Mostly it’s Fridays, but some weeks I’m guessing he doesn’t come, because there are some Fridays that you’re extra sour. So I thought maybe you snuck out some Fridays, when you thought no one was watching, but when I never saw you leaving, I thought someone must be coming here,” he paused, eyeing her carefully, “Am I right?”

     She nodded, and he continued, “But what makes that such an important secret?”

     “Because I think he’s someone who works for your family. And I have a feeling he’s not supposed to talk to me. I don’t want your mother to find out, just in case she would make him stop coming,” she said with a very serious face.

     “Well,” Jack puffed up again, “I promise to keep your secret, even if they torture me.”

     “And I promise to keep yours, though I really don’t think anyone will torture us…” Alice laughed.


	3. Three

     It was years before Alice had an idea of why the Hearts guarded her so closely and carefully, why they treated her as something precious and dangerous.

     It was because she was.

     “The girl ought to be trained, your majesty. Fourteen is more than old enough. It is a surety that she has power, that we can assume. But what sort? And how strong? And does she pose a risk?” one of the two men standing before the queen simpered at her.  
  
    The other man - his brother? They were identical - cut in with a syrupy smile, “Contrariwise, is she an asset? The simplest way to get your answer is to let us take a bash at her, as it were. And it would be best to start immediately.”  
  
     Alice wasn’t sure if they knew she was there, or if they would have phrased that any differently if they did know. She didn’t like the idea of anyone “taking a bash at her”, was pretty opposed to it, now that she thought about it. Before she could slip away though, one of the more motivated clubs gripped her by the arm and marched her up to the two men.  
  
     “The girl for you, Mr. Dee, Mr. Dum,” he clicked his heels together smartly and left, with Alice stuck there.  
  
     So much for slipping away.  
  
     And what were they talking about? What powers did they think she had?

* * *

     They had no idea what powers she had, it turned out. Every day for weeks, the two men would come knock on her door and escort her to a room where they put her through all sorts of bizarre tests for a few hours, and then they would escort her back to her room.  
  
     So far they had eliminated telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation, all of the “tele-”s that she could think of. She couldn’t control the elements, she couldn’t shapeshift, she couldn’t talk with animals. She couldn’t even fly, and that was one she had secretly been hoping would work.  
  
     After nearly three months of this, Alice was seriously doubting she had any powers at all, but Mr. Dee and Mr. Dum were only more delighted each time she failed one of their tests.  
  
     “She’s a tricky one, Mr. Dum!”  
  
     “Certainly is, Mr. Dee. Whatever shall we try next?”  
  
     “We shouldn’t have been so surprised at her not having a common power. It wouldn’t follow, logically, would it?”  
  
     “An uncommon power for an uncommon girl, brother. Perfectly sensible, indeed.”  
  
     When they got like this, they could yammer for ages. Alice shifted her weight from one foot to the other, trying to relieve the discomfort she felt in the falls of her feet. Today they had tried to see if she could jump exceptionally high. Instead, she just bruised her toes and made her knees ache.  
  
     She cut through their theorizing and self-congratulating, “Is that all for today?”  
  
     “Speaking! What if she speaks?” Mr. Dee said with a too-wide grin.  
  
     “That could be just the thing, Mr. Dee! The very thing!” Mr. Dum had a grin to match, and together they made an unsettling pair, grinning like maniacs and staring her down.  
  
     “Doesn’t most everyone speak?” she asked, more than a little confused.  
  
     They gave her a look that said very clearly, “oh, you silly girl”. Then they set to pushing the table and chairs to the edge of the room and chattering to each other, too hurried and hushed for Alice to make anything out clearly. Once there was a large space in the center of the room, they turned to stare at her.  
  
     “Miss Alice, would you please state something as fact,” they instructed.  
  
     She paused, not sure what exactly they wanted, before saying, “It’s sunny outside.”  
  
     The brothers heaved weary sighs and rolled their eyes. They scuttled up to her and each took one of her hands in their large, clammy grips.  
  
     “Not like that, girl!” Mr. Dee said, “Something that isn’t true!”  
  
     “But might be. And could be. If you were to speak it, of course,” Mr. Dum chimed in.  
  
     Alice thought about what they were asking of her. Her head was starting to hurt from having to guess at the meaning behind the confusing ways they spoke to her, but she had an idea of what they were trying to get her to do. She looked down at the dress she was wearing that day. A dark, rich, almost bloody red. She hated the color. Looking up at the brothers, she opened her mouth and took in a deep breath.  
  
     “The dress I am wearing is blue.”  
  
     All three of them gaped with surprise as the color of the dress flickered, just for a moment, to blue. It was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment before it changed back to red, but it happened. Alice wasn’t entirely convinced she didn’t just imagine it until she heard them react.  
  
     “Bless my soul, Mr. Dum, she speaks!”  
  
     “Consider your soul blessed, dear brother, she does indeed!” the Tweedles grabbed her by the hands and began spinning in a dizzy circle, dragging her along with them, “How clever of us! How clever of her!”  
  
     “An uncommon power for an uncommon girl, Miss Alice! And you are exceedingly uncommon,” Mr. Dee shrieked as his grin stretched so wide, it seemed it might split his face in two at any moment.  
  
     “The uncommonest girl we ever did see!”  
  
     As the two men spun wildly with her, Alice realized her cheeks ached, and it occurred to her that her mouth was drawn up in a broad smile as well.  
  
     After another half hour of trying to speak things and having results no better than her first attempt, the Tweedles sent her out with firm instructions not to try anything without their supervision, warning her that the results could very well be catastrophic, and while an uncommon girl, she was still just a girl. Hardly prepared to deal with the fallout of such a power as speaking.  
  
     She immediately ran to Jack’s rooms to show off.

* * *

     “Jack!” she pounded on the door, “Jack, open the door!”  
  
     When the door was suddenly flung open, she almost toppled forward into the young prince. She would have, if he hadn’t caught her just in time. He couldn’t manage to absorb the force of her fall though, and he windmilled his arms wildly for a second before finally losing his balance, sending the two of them tumbling down with a thunk.  
  
     His face contorted and his mouth was pressed closed so tightly that his lips all but vanished, and the shaking of his sides gave away the laughter he was fighting.  
  
     “What is so important, Alice?” he said, his voice shaking now too, the laughter coming out in little hiccups that she could feel as a rumble in his chest.  
  
     “I can speak!”  
  
     Jack stared at her for a moment, his head cocked to the side, before he said, “Is that new?”  
  
     She pushed herself off of him and up to a sitting position on the rug next to him before she nudged the door shut with her foot. He looked at her, obviously expecting an explanation, so she stuck one hand out and said, “I have a glove on this hand.”  
  
     Again, there was only a flicker, but Jack caught it before it vanished again. The expectant look on his face was gone, his eyes and mouth both wide open in shock. He grabbed her hand, running his fingers along it as though he thought the glove would reappear any second, this time for good. When he managed to scrape his jaw up off the floor, he stared at her with a wild look in his eyes.  
  
     “Alice, you can - no one’s been able to do that for ages!” he scrambled to stand up, pulling her up with him, “Do it again, speak something else!”  
  
     She shook her head, “The Tweedles have had me doing it for ages. Just that glove thing is making my head pound, but I wanted to show you. I can do it again later, if you want.”  
  
     “If! If I want?” he let out a sharp bark of a laugh, “Obviously I want. Alice, this is amazing. You - you’re amazing.”  
  
     Alice knew the Hearts thought she was important, that she was precious, but no one had ever called her amazing before. Her stomach flip-flopped and she threw her arms around Jack in a vice grip of a hug.  
  
     “Thank you,” she said.  
  
     Her voice was muffled against his chest, but Jack understood anyway. Not for the first time, he swallowed the words he desperately wanted to say to her, afraid of ruining this. Whatever this was.


	4. Four

     She had always known there was something different about Hatter. She’d have to have been blind and deaf not to notice. So maybe it wasn’t so much what was different about Hatter as what was different about her feelings towards him.

     The winter the year she turned fifteen wasn’t just cold, it sucked the heat out of Alice's bones and made her struggle to remember what it was like when she could feel her toes all the time. As beautiful as the forests of Wonderland were, all glittering with a thin glaze of ice and smoothly sparkling carpets of snow, she was content to look out at them from her window, wrapped up in every blanket she could find until only her face clued visitors in that there was a person somewhere inside the massive, snuggly heap.

     That was how Hatter found her one morning, her hand peeking out to trace the icy patterns that had formed on her windowpanes. She didn't hear him come in - even with shoes, he padded along like a cat and never made a sound. Instead, it was more like she felt him. The room always felt fuller with him in it, brighter, as if his personality were so big that it pushed the shadows out of the way to make space.

     The bed shifted as he sank his weight on the far corner of the mattress, "H'lo blanket creature. Do you know where I might find this girl, pretty thing, but stubborn as can be? Goes by Alice," he leaned over and gave a tug on the blanket that covered her head. She let it slip down, her face splitting in a broad, impish grin at his exaggerated surprise, "Ah! It was you all along!" 

     She laughed, "You called me stubborn!"

     "But I also called you pretty, and I can't imagine that'd count for nothing," he tapped a forefinger on the tip of her nose before springing back up to stand, "Now I need you to get out from under the covers, because I have a whole day planned for us, and you can't do any of it from there!" 

     "Hatter, noooo," she wailed, putting on a tragic face as he pulled away the blankets, "You're letting in the cold!"

     He ignored her, reaching down to pick up a plain, brown package and set it down in front of her on the bed, "Then I suppose you won't be wanting these?" 

     Alice looked up at him with suspicious eyes. It wouldn't be the first time he had brought something to bribe her to go somewhere. She traced her fingertips along the edges of the box for a moment before her curiosity got the better of her and she lifted off the lid.

    The cold sunlight shining through the icy windowpanes bounced off the blades and cast slanting bars of light on the ceiling, and the white leather was soft and smooth to the touch. Hatter watched for her reaction as she took one skate out of the box and held it up, running the black laces between her fingers. 

     "Do you like them?" 

     "Hatter, I love them!" she threw her arms around him, careful not to accidentally gouge him with the blade.

     "Then get ready, quick as you can, and meet me by the kitchen door. I've got sandwiches packed up for us, and the girls down in the kitchen have promised us hot chocolate when we get back so you don't freeze clean through," he said before dropping a kiss on the crown of her head and darting off, careful not to be seen leaving her room.

     He'd…Hatter'd never done that before.  Alice found her fingers twining in the hair he had kissed, tugging at it thoughtfully.  She stood like that for a moment before laughing at herself - getting thrown for a loop by a silly little gesture that didn't mean anything, that wasn't like her at all.  She shook her head to clear it, then jumped up to dress, leaving the blankets in a heap on the bed.

* * *

     With her gloved hand in his, they tore across the little hills behind the palace and into the forest until Alice thought the cold would make her lungs burst, and then a little farther.  More than once Hatter turned to look at her, his feet still flying over the snow, to flash her that manic grin and give her hand another tug.  And more than once, she'd suck in enough air to badger him, "Where are we going?" but all she got each time was, "Just a little farther, pet!"

     Just as she reached the point of exhaustion where she wanted to dig her heels in and refuse to go a step more, Hatter skidded to a halt and she had to scramble not to crash into him.

     "We're here!"

     "Where's 'here'?" she asked, looking around them for some sign of what he'd dragged them all this way for.

     Hatter reached in one of the innumerable pockets inside his coat and drew out skating blades with some kind of straps attached to them and promptly plopped down in the snow, attaching them to his boots without so much as a word.  Once he had one on, he looked up to meet her eyes and grinned, "Why do you think I got you ice skates, Alice?" and he flung one arm in a wild gesture towards the lake behind him, frozen solid and smooth as glass.

     Her mouth formed an "o" of understanding before tugging up in a smile and she dropped to the ground as well to tug off her shoes and pull on the skates she'd had knotted together and slung over her shoulder.

     “Coming?” Hatter leaned down, his hand extended and the corners of his eyes crinkled from his broad smile.

     She slipped her hand into his, her leather glove all but enveloped by his massive wool mitten. “Whoa!” she gasped, suddenly on her feet as Hatter guided her along the surface of the lake.

     His skates glided along as he pushed himself backwards, making swishing sounds against the ice to match her own as he pulled her forward.

     “Just like that, Alice, push back and a little to the side,” he said as they skated along away from the shore, “You're an absolute natural.”

     “Don't you dare let go!” she said, her eyes fixed on their feet as she gripped his hands tightly.

     Hatter just laughed and gave her hands a squeeze, gradually moving them faster across the ice, “I have to let go eventually.”

     “Says who?”

     “Just one hand, alright? I'll be right next to you for as long as you need me,” his voice was low and calming, but Alice's heart still thumped harder as he let go of her left hand to skate alongside her.

     After a few wide, slow circuits of the lake without falling flat on her face – or her backside – the panicked thump-thump of her heart subsided and she was able to look up from her feet at the frozen landscape around them. It was so easy to forget just how beautiful Wonderland was, cooped up in the palace so much of her life. Not for the first time, she thought to herself how lucky she was to have Hatter always dragging her out for this adventure or that.

     “I might be ready to try it on my own,” she said.

     “Yeah?” he unwrapped his hand from around hers, still holding it out in case she wobbled or changed her mind.

     “Definitely,” she nodded and gave a push with her skate, sailing on ahead with what she hoped was an assuring smile.

     With each smooth, gliding step she felt a little more confident, a little prouder of how well she was doing. She did a quick circuit on her own, building up speed and grinning as the wind caught the wisps of hair that refused to stay back, buffeted them around her face as she flew. At one point, she tried to turn around and skate backwards the way Hatter had as he led her out onto the ice, and for a moment it worked. She felt the blades go over a rougher patch of ice, felt the bumps and pits catch and wobble her ankles, but didn't pay much attention. Then she heard a crackling sound, and the ice opened up to swallow her.

     Everything burned. The cold pressed in and tore the air out of her lungs. Her mouth flew open to gasp, only to choke down a mouthful of water. The water around her was murky enough that she couldn't see clearly, but she could make out which way was up from the light. With kicks made slow and heavy by her thick clothes, Alice pushed up towards the surface, stretching out her fingertips. When she did reach it, her fingers hit solid ice. She pounded clenched fists against it, trying to scream. Only bubbles came out. The pounding in her chest was back, from terror as well as the burning in her lungs.

     A shadow crouched above her, too blurry and dark to make out. If she had been thinking of anything but air, she would have hoped it were Hatter. The shadow moved and a loud thunk sounded through the ice. Tiny spiderweb cracks spread out from the center of where the thunk had hit, growing wider as the shadow hit the ice again. A hand plunged through the center, smashing through the cracked ice, sending chips and chunks down into the water and fishing around for something.

     For her.

     Alice grabbed the hand, gave it a tug to pull herself up to air, but before she was halfway there, a second hand shot down too and wrapped around her arm, tearing her out of the frigid water.

     She gasped as she sucked in air, so cold that it sliced through her, but so so welcome. At the end of the arms that had pulled her up was Hatter, looking pale and terrified and yanking her close to crush her against him.

     “So sorry, Alice. So sorry, I didn't know – I didn't see how thin it was and I'm sorry. Scared the life out of me, you did, seeing you there and then just not and nowhere near where you fell and seeing your face through the ice, pet, you can't imagine. So scared you were gone and I wasn't quick enough and -”

     “Stop,” Alice choked out and he did, his mouth shutting halfway through a thought.

     His eyes, big and brown and still so full of terror at the thought of losing her, were fixed on hers, clearly waiting for her to say something. 

     “Thank you,” she started, “for saving me. I could have died but I didn't.”

     “But if I had been too -”

     “You weren't.”

     “But if -”

     “Hatter,” she leaned her forehead against his, “I'm fine. You saved me. Is there really any point in worrying about what-if?”

     That stopped him, and she saw some small measure of stress go out of him, softening the lines of his shoulders and back. His fingers were still curled in the fabric of her coat, but less of a death-grip and more just reassuring himself that she was really there, safe and sound.

     “I would like to change clothes though. It's a little cold,” she said, trying for a grin and hoping it didn't end up a grimace.

     “Right! Of course, c'mon,” he jumped to his feet clumsily, wobbling on the skates as he helped her to her feet, and Alice was struck by the resemblance to their earlier positions, but even more by the differences. It was strange to think that was less than an hour ago.

     They skated back slowly and gingerly, and Hatter kept his right arm tight around her waist and his left hand wrapped around her own. It made it a little harder for Alice to move, but she could see how shaken he was, so she didn't say anything.

     Less than twenty feet from the shore, she heard it. A faint popping sound, followed by crackling. Before she could react, she heard a shout burst out of Hatter and felt him shove her away. She went flying and skidded into a snowbank, safe but helpless as she watched the ice open up and swallow him.

     A scream tore its way up her throat and, without pausing to think, she was drawing on what the Tweedles had been trying to teach her for years, speaking things into reality. Her words had power, power beyond the lighting of candles or the changing of dress colors, but she had never believed it until she told the ice it would give her back Hatter, that it would open up and lift him out, and it did.

     He fell, sputtering and coughing and dripping wet but otherwise unharmed, at her feet. She wasted no time pulling him onto the snow with her, away from the ice. Already cold and shaky from her own fall through the ice, using her power and speaking things had left her feeling like her bones had dissolved and left her limp. Judging by the way Hatter lay at her side, still except for the rise and fall of his chest, he wasn't much better off. She decided to push their luck one more time, and summoned the energy to wrap her arms around him as tightly as she could. 

     “We're back at the palace,” she whispered, unsure if her speaking would work again so soon. 

     There was a whoosh of air, and then they were plopped into another snowbank, but this one was less than ten feet from the door to the palace kitchen. She heard Hatter groan – probably from being smacked into the ground – and lifted her head to see one of the kitchen girls - Bee, some part of Alice's brain supplied her name - hurrying over to them. 

    “Wren said she saw you appear out of thin air! Come on, up you get! You can't stay in the snow and,” she put a hand on each of their shoulders, “You're soaked through! Get inside, quick as you can.”

     They pulled themselves up as best they could, clinging to each other to support their shaky legs, too drained to do anything but listen to the woman buzzing around them. 

    Later, if Alice concentrated, she would half remember the girls in the kitchen fussing over the two of them, helping them unlace their skates and easing them off, pressing mugs of steaming cocoa into their stiff, frozen fingers, sitting them down in the corner next to the row of ovens where the heat could wash over them until the feeling returned to their toes and the chattering of their teeth ceased. At the time though, all she could process was that Hatter was safe, and she refused to let him out of her sight, didn't even like the idea of not touching him in some way. They spent the whole time leaning against each other on the kitchen floor, mostly to prop each other up, but also because there was something soothing about physical proof that neither of them was dead. 

    “Alice?” Hatter rasped, almost too soft to hear.

     “Mmm?” 

     “Gon' fall 'sleep soon.” 

     Right, she thought. She felt her body protest moving so soon, but ignored it as she pushed herself up, using the wall behind them to keep from falling. Hatter grumbled and groaned his way to a standing position too, and with mumbled, probably unintelligible thanks to the girls, they set off for her room. 

     The moment they got there, the two of them collapsed on her bed and slept, curled in a heap like puppies.

     When she woke, they had shifted so their legs were tangled together and Hatter's arms were curled around her waist. It seemed that, even asleep, neither one of them wanted to let the other go far. She tilted her head up to look at his face, sound asleep and the most peaceful she'd ever seen him. Her fingers itched to push back the pieces of hair that had fallen forward, but she was sure that if she moved, it would wake him. So instead, she settled for watching the slow, even rise and fall of his chest and the way his mouth would quirk up at the corners, almost a smile but not quite. He looked completely content, and she couldn't figure out why that made her stomach flip-flop the way it did. She thought about almost losing him earlier, and couldn't explain why the thought felt like someone tearing out her heart.

     She decided to worry about it another day and curled closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder, and let the faint sound of his breathing lull her back to sleep.

     Neither of them noticed the sound of the door opening just a crack, or the wide, unbelieving eyes of a prince looking in for just a moment before the door swung closed again.


End file.
